SPREE SHOOTING NEEDS TO END. BY THE PEOPLE, THE LAW ABIDING CITIZEN

SADLY, when one writes about many diverse issues, there will come a time when one hits a nerve – something that happens; something hits close to home. I wrote two columns about gun violence, trading twelve’s with Bob Costas’ asinine anti-Second Amendment harangue less than a week ago. Much of my comments focused on ghetto gun violence, and the cultural impoverished view of guns within inner city communities.

Tables turn quickly, sometimes. There is, then, an unhealthy gun culture germinating in well to do, mostly white culture as well. One could label this the spree shooting culture. The spree shooting culture is, perhaps, more dangerous. For more people are murdered when it happens, and none of the victims is involved in an assortment of dangerous criminal activity when murdered. Gang violence is bad, innocent victims (Chicago) are a consequence of it – but most of the victims consumed in gangland gun violence were murdering bastards themselves.

Today, at about 9 a.m., a spree shooting happened again. Newtown, Connectecuit. 28 people, including 20 children, were shot dead by a vicious animal – mental problems or not. The shooter, 20-year-old Adam Lanza, also shot his mother in the face dead, an employee of the school. President Barack Obama’s mournful comments were heartfelt. There was large feeling and sympathy in his countenance. It was one of the few times I have felt he caught the right spirit. To the rest of us, awestruck and horrified, we hug our children, families, and our friends. We pray, lingering in thought for the victims – everybody must come together. This must be done. These men and women and families need support now.

They are living in the deepest, earthly hell.

But. The spree shooting culture must come to an end, too. And it will come to an end when law-abiding citizens take their communities back – their own property; there wellbeing and their children’s wellbeing – by making would-be spree shooters think twice by arming themselves. Thus, the would-be spree shooter will commence contemplating spree shooting as good an idea as straggling out of a bar drunk, ‘figure-eight-ing without-skates’ past a wide-eyed Police Officer, and getting into a car to drive home.

There are some who would say violence does not solve anything. This is foolishness. That is the language of the impotent victim. I can remember being stopped by a Police Officer once in Essex, Vermont. I was at the time, and did since turning 21-years old, packing a .45 semi-automatic. A Kimber classic 1911, if memory serves. My routine, if pulled over by police, was always to warn the approaching officer beforehand that I was presently armed. Safety first, folks; the officers, and my own. The police officer questioned why I was armed. “Why,” he asked, “do you need to be carrying a loaded gun?” I politely expressed my sturdy agreement with the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Since I could smell the resentment wafting off this peace officer as he hung at my window, I might have slung some “I’m an American. A free Negro, officer” jive. It was, looking back, a smooth Jack Johnson impersonation. I also said he and his fellow “thin blue line” weren’t – and could not – protect my life. Police can’t be everywhere at once, I lamented. The police officer informed me, quite timorously I might add, if he had his druthers, he would not carry a gun if not part of his job.

I told this stuffy Essex Police Officer that his statement was the most absurd and irrational comment I had ever heard. I can’t remember if he gave me a ticket for speeding or not. That was more than a few years ago.

So. If violence doesn’t solve anything, neither does burying 20 children and eight adults. And we would not be aghast now, no never, if upon shouldering through the door of that Connecticut Elementary school, armed with weapons, and in mid gait of unfurling a Glock 9mm – said late Mr Lanza was shot dead by an armed security guard in a weaver stance, or armed teacher.

But that did not happen. Neither did anyone, nor will they, complain about the swarm of law enforcement officers colliding on scene armed equally with dangerous firearms in response to the Newtown, Connecticut spree shooting.

But the problem is, said police and SWAT officers were not inside the school when the late Mr Lanza stormed in – blood cold, eyes dead; eyes black as coal. His mind made for murder.

Some life has to be destroyed – for if not, it will destroy other life.

A storm is coming. The anti-Second Amendment piranhas will feast on this, we know. But it is interesting to me these spree shootings – minus the one on the military base, are bereft of men and women equally armed. These spree shootings happen in the most vulnerable of settings for normal law abiding folks; where said, sane law-abiding folks would not think to bring a loaded gun.

And that is the problem. People, strangers even, who the common American male or female would trust with their newborns and even personal property, do not bring guns to school; to work, to parks and malls. That is another large problem. The people who are not armed need to be, because we cannot control the bad people who are armed. This is particularly true of spree shooters, most of whom, would have passed the FBI and local background checks to obtain a weapon. Besides celebrities, the President of the United States, common folks do not have teams of security around them armed with lethal weapons. Until law abiding citizens say enough, and spree shooters start getting shot dead upon bringing out a weapon in these “vulnerable” environs – this trend, this awful, damn, disgusting trend, will continue.

We say a tearful goodbye to these victims, all of them, and all those beautiful children. We mourn and remember the victims. All of them, past and present. But we should also change our thinking. If civilly righteous men and women do not have the ability to take back their communities, their lives; the protection and defense of their children, this violence will continue. The ability to defend oneself; the defense of children, is a duty and an inalienable right.

Time to fight back in defense of life and property. Arm yourself – learn to shoot; shoot accurate – the gun an extension of your hand and your body. Get a safety lock. Store your weapon responsibly. Protect what has been given and earned. Protect what is yours. Carry your weapon quietly, soberly, but proudly through your day.

You may never need your weapon. So. You would rather have a gun and not need it, then need it, and not have it.